You know whats funny? I run and collect some of the more readily available road names and paint schemes, and I have a general idea of where they ran and when, what is real and what is a fantasy scheme, but nothing specific.. So if you dont mind, can some of you board veterans fill me in on a few, and just realize it never dawned on me. Southern Pacific Daylight scheme. I have 4-6-4's, PA and F series diesels and lots of passenger cars, yet dont ask me why I thought they ran through florida. Anyone shed some light for me? Southern Crescent Green. Same thing, 4-6-4's, FA and PA's and lots of passenger cars. Oh, I also have a 2-8-8-2 Concor in the green, I am pretty sure thats a fantasy. Great Northern Empire Builder Black/Orange Lots of passenger cars, Lots of diesels, no steam in that paint? Soo Line. My first engine I ever got was a soo. Where did they run,when? UNION PACIFIC. The blue goose, is it real? A powder blue 4-6-4 with passenger cars? Everyone has the distinctive Gold passenger cars, But I love the 2 tone grey set I have, was that real or fantasy? I do have a big collection, but if it didnt run in the northeast corridor perminantly, I sometimes appear clueless. If you have have data on where and when these ran, I thank you. V
No steam in that paint. If my memory is correct, the black was actually a very dark green. Boxcab E50
Vilefileman It sounds like you have been collecting locos and rolling stock like many of us do. If it looks good, buy it. Aesthetics is an important part for many railroads, which in part explains for the bright coloration and elaborate paint schemes. I am also one who purchases my stuff because it looks good. In our scale, the limited selection of locos and rolling stock results in "fantasy" paint schemes on locos and rolling stock, probably moreso in our scale than any other. Fantasy means that a manufacturer/distributor painted a certain locomotive in a particular scheme, when in real life that railroad never had anything resembling it. Manufacturers do this to increase sales for each production run, and two, to make trains available to us. So, in N scale, many discussions, as you see on this forum and others, will debate on what a particular railroad really ran. Instead of being dismayed by this, quite the contrary, I am pleased by it. Although my favorite railroad PRR didn't operate 4-6-4 Hudsons, I have a few PRR Hudsons, because I like Hudsons, and so on and so on. My layout is a model, but when I run trains, maybe there are many like me, who imagine the running train is part of a real minature world, only I am in charge. So are you. You can run anything you like, or need or want on your layout, and it "ain't prototypic" so what. If you are really serious about running true to prototype trains, either limit your inventory, read history and train books, or just have outrageous fun. I chose the latter. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman s of number of rs o
The color scheme of the GN was a very dark green and orange separated by yellow stripes with a silver stripe along the sill. First diesels in that scheme were the early FTs, F3s, and the E7s. The E7s and FTs initially were pulling all green passenger cars and the 1947 Empire Builder introduced the green and orange to the line to match the new locos. Steam was a basic black for most power. However some shops introduced a paint scheme that became known as the Glacier Park Scheme, mostly in the western portion of the line and initially on just passenger power, however that was not all inclusive as some passenger continued in all black. The Glacier Park scheme consisted of a dark green boiler jacket, silver, almost white smokebox, the same on the cylinder covers and firebox. Cab roof was sometimes a red depending again on the shop. This paint shceme found it way onto some freight steam also, 2-8-2 to 2-8-8-2. Line basically ran from Chicago to Seattle with a southern route over SP&S rails to Portland for passenger. Another line ran over SP&S rails to reach California known as the Oregon trunk. No Empire Builder cars ever ran behind GN steam, however they did run behind SP&S 700 series Northerns with the Portland section of the Empire Builder. Also GN ran into the Missabe Iron Range and as run through on some Burlington lines in the midwest.
SOU had no 4-6-4s; their passenger power never developed beyond the 4-6-2. I think they did have PAs. Not sure about FAs, but I've never seen one. Most railroads didn't use the same colors on steam and diesels. SOU was one of the few that did: black for freight and green for passenger on both steam and diesel. Therefore, a 2-8-8-2 (which I believe SOU had) would have been black. SOO operated in the upper Midwest until it was absorbed into CP around 1990. What lcoomotive do you have, and in what colors?
UP never had a 4-6-4 , nor did I ever here of any UP steamer being painted blue . Grey yes , late 40's to 1952 4-8-2 , 4-6-2 , 4-6-6-4 , maybe a some others , but they were really odd balls if at all . UP had a streamlined 4-6-2 and a 4-8-2 in brown and yellow , but they do not look like the CC model , not unless you have a touch of blindness . UP 2906 4-6-2 http://www.steamlocomotive.com/colored/up2906-dale.jpg UP 7002 4-8-2 http://www.steamlocomotive.com/colored/up7002-dale.jpg Con-Cor make believe UP streamlined 4-6-4 http://www.airporthobby.com/CONCOR%204-6-4.jpg
If you are interested in a little research, search the name of each railroad using Google or search engine of your choice. You will find histories, maps of systems at various years, photos, loco rosters, etc. Historical societies for some roads include a wealth of information. Wikipedia articles can give you a capsule of most roads and include some maps. But be careful. You can become addicted. Ben
"SOU had no 4-6-4s; their passenger power never developed beyond the 4-6-2. I think they did have PAs. Not sure about FAs, but I've never seen one." Southern did develop beyond the Pacifics, rostering a good number of 4-8-2s, which were used in passenger service.
No 'modern' Empire Builder, i.e., Omha Orange/Pullman Green, ever ran behind steam (P2 4-8-2 Mountains and/or S1 & S2 4-8-4 Northerns). BUT ... the Empire Builder didn't start out that way either. The orginal EB consists were Pullman Green heavyweight cars which the aforementioned steamer types did pull. The EB consists remained heavyweight until about 1947 when GN began modernizing the train with new smoothside cars and diesels (primarily EMD E7's, F3's and F7's) painted in the new Empire Builder Omaha Orange/Pullman Green paint scheme.
The Southern did have PA's, but they were PA-3's which, to the best of my knowledge no model manufacturer has ever made. There are some very visible differences between the PA-3's and earlier PA's. Their normal haunts were Virginia, Tennessee and northern Georgia although they did sometimes work the "Ponce de Leon" to Jacksonville, FL. As stated, the Southern had no FA's, tho' they did roster an awful lot of RS-3's. Southern also rostered 2-8-8-2's during the steam era, but these were in coal hauling territory and never saw any color but black. Many Southern steam engines assigned to passenger service, from old 4-6-0's to 4-8-2's were painted Virginia green, but almost all freight engines wore every-day black.
As mentioned the 'Blue Goose' was in fact Santa Fe, but any matching passenger cars are not prototypical, No. 3460 was used general service with the non-streamlined Hudsons between Chicago and Kansas City, (and I think as far west as La Junta, CO) and pulled whatever assignment came up. A streamlined 4-8-4 was planned but canceled when No. 3460 came in overweight. As a minor bit of nitpicking, as far as I can tell, 'Blue Goose' is a name coined for No. 3460 by modelers at some point, the following caption of a photo of the engine awaiting scrapping printed in the Dec 1956 issue of Trains gives the nicknames it was known by on the Santa Fe. "The MAE WEST awaited torch at Kansas City last June. Formerly the BLUEBIRD, No. 3460 was Santa Fe's only streamlined power. The Mae West name apparently was bestowed on the engine after its skirts were removed for easier access to its running gear by shop crews as quoted from an article entitled "What's my name" in the Jan '57 Trains. "Names stick. Names are remembered. Even without official sanction they stick and are remembered. Santa Fe's original 2-10-4, the 5000, became the Madame Queen, just as streamlined Hudson 3460 was first the Bluebird and later, when the boys cut away some of the streamlining to expose the machinery, Mae West. I guess Bluebird and Mae West were two names that were forgotten.
Strange... I thought I'd heard the 4-6-2s described as the peak of their passenger development, and I'm not used to seeing Southern green 4-8-2s.
Triplex - Yes they did have 4-8-2's, the class Ts and AFAIK, all the engines assigned to passenger service were painted just like the Ps-4's. Also, they had a streamlined Ps-4 that was assigned to the "Tennessean." That just about exhausts my knowledge of Southern steam power.
